Eli Banner
= Personality = Eli is impossible to miss. The sheer amount of energy he puts into everything he does seems almost to burn him into the perceptions of a given location, a vibrating, lunatic energy that seeks to drag others along with it, whether they understand where they are going or not. He cheerfully charges headlong towards the unknown, laughing into the darkness with a manic fervor many have called insane. = Paradigm = Everything that exists, exists. There's no two ways around that. But there are things that exist that we have yet to find, yet to discover. We can hypothesize as to these things' existence through observation and through logic. The Dark Matter theory shows this beautifully. And as we come to understand things, be they objects, forms of energy or even ideas, we can apply them to the current situation. In effect, bringing new variables into the equation. Everything, everything in existence can be defined or at least hinted at through the proper descriptive equations. We simply have to discover or create the proper variables... = Sheet = Attributes: : Physical: Strength 1, Dexterity 3, Stamina 2 : Social: Charisma 4, Manipulation 1, Appearance 3 : Mental: Perception 2, Intelligence 5, Wits 3 Abilities: : Talents: Dodge 1, Expression 1, Insight 3, Sensitivity 3, Vigilance 1 : Skills: Drive 1, Research 4, Technology 2 : Knowledges: Computer 2, Enigmas 5, Investigation 2, Linguistics 1, Occult 1, Science 5 Advantages: : Spheres: Contiguous Ether 1 (2 or 3?), Energetic Physics 1, Etheric Chemistry and Engineering 2, Metaphysical Ether 2 (Mind 2 or 3?) : Arete: 3 : Willpower: 5 (raise this) : Backgrounds: Arcane 1 (higher?), Avatar 3, Dream 2, Resources 1 : Merits: Lightning Calculator (1), Prodigy (2) : Flaws: Age (1), Driving Goal (3), Notoriety (3) Notoriety Eli is known (at least among his own Tradition) for just being weird when it comes to his theories. Many argue that he isn't truly a Son of Ether at all, the way he outright ignores their usual methods of invention and devices. Closer to a Virtual Adept, in some ways, but even the Hackers regard him dubiously. Others claim he's well on his way to an early death by Quiet, or perhaps the label of Marauder. Very, very few ever find themselves comfortable with the boy, whatever their take on his theories. Perhaps it's the way he has of staring so intently, as though his focused attention could peel away your skin and look deeper... Or maybe it's just the fact that he bases his studies into Prime on quantum physics and atomic mechanics, and nobody likes sitting next to what could become a walking nuclear explosion at the drop of a hat. The fact that he sometimes puts off Cherenkov radiation when he gets excited just adds to the general feelings of unease. Specialties ; Charisma:Eli's social skills are somewhat lacking, but he seems to make up for it in sheer force of personality. Holding a conversation with him has been likened to the proverbial drink from a firehose. ; Enigmas:When it comes to ferreting out weirdly-related bits of theory, Eli practically has a sixth sense. He's generally good at puzzles and suchlike as a matter of course, but where he excels is figuring out how some wildly divergent subjects can not only have relevance to each other, but point toward some further truth. ; Intelligence:This youth's mind is his most powerful weapon, honed to a razor edge. While almost frighteningly intelligent in his own right, where Eli truly excels is in the correlation of wildly divergent bits of data. Sure, you can't figure out how that equation relates to why this bit of metal was deformed in this way, or what either of those have to do with the sudden power outage last week, but for Eli, it's all just pieces of a puzzle... ; Linguistics:In studying several notable mathematicians, Eli taught himself German so as to be able to read their original works without the filter of a translator. ; Research:The sheer volume of data this kid can assimilate and internalize per hour is staggering. He's the sort you hand a hefty textbook to and have it handed back in a couple hours with "Done! I added some footnotes." ; Science:The higher maths are like an old playground to Eli, familiar and delightful, but no longer worth any real effort. He's gone so far beyond standard calculus and physics as to be practically inventing his own symbols at times, and can chatter off theories and equations like most people remember cellphone numbers. He's got a sub-specialty in various (strange) high-energy and theoretical physics areas. ; Technology:While Eli's not usually the sort to get his hands dirty, he has a fundamental understanding of the high-energy end of things. Resonance and containment chambers, laser benches, even small-scale reactors, you get the idea. Foci ; Contiguous Ether (Correspondence):Through hard analysis of standard timespace physics equations, Eli has come up with several theories (and associated maths) that describe the relationships of various entities in relation to each other, including one he's still struggling with which implies that ideas can occupy a spatial location. He is devoting particular attention to x=x_0+v_0t+\tfrac{1}{2}at^2 , which describes position ( x ) in relation to velocity ( v ), acceleration ( a ) and time ( t ). He feels that it is missing some fundamental variable, and if he can discover this variable through related study, he just might be on the verge of a breakthrough. ; Energetic Physics (Forces):Any schoolboy knows \sum F=F_{net}=ma , but Eli's broken through the wall into describing how Force is more than the simple acceleration of an object. He's still figuring out some of the implied complexities of his own work, but he's discovered how to describe direct energy conversion, though there's still something not quite right with his math... ; Etheric Chemistry and Engineering (Matter):Describing how mere chemicals interact is child's play. Describing how one may be directly transmuted into another, now there's something to pay attention to. The equation declaring the transformation from lead to gold is pretty, too. ; Metaphysical Ether (Prime): E=mc^2 Energy is equal to mass times the square of the speed of light. Through this simple, famous equation, matter and energy can be converted into one another, and it is this school of thought that has truly caught Eli's mind. He believes that he may be well towards coming up with a Unification Theory through the study of Prime, a base equation that will allow him to substitute all events into the variables to describe... anything... Magical Vagaries While many might regard Eli's style of magic as being without foci (equations and theories totally don't count, didn't you know?) there is also the interesting wrinkle that nearly every effect Eli can manifest is wildly vulgar in nearly any setting outside of a nuclear physics lab. While it is possible for him to work coincidental magic, it takes much more thought and effort than simply doing things like blasting subatomic particles off of something with a somewhat "enhanced" beam of light. = Background = Life is interesting, when you're a child prodigy. In every sense of the word. So it was for young Eli Banner. By first grade, algebra was simple. But his grades struggled, for he found himself utterly unable to remain focused on such trivial, banal tasks as were required of his age group. While others were struggling with multiplication, he was sneaking peeks in physics textbooks. And there came the other edge of the sword, for his classmates saw only something different, someone claiming to be better than they. And we all know how cruel children can be. Still, Eli survived, scorching through placement exams and drawing attention from multiple points. A math savant like this hadn't been seen in decades, if ever. The calculus spilling from the boy's mind and fingers as he struggled to deal with not only such distressing trivialities as homework and grades but the awakening storm of puberty, pushing his mind to its limits as he not only tried to keep control of himself but get all these fascinating ideas in his head out where he could actually look at them... It really was too much for the boy, and his parents, his peers, could see it eating at him. He grew thin, his eyes wild and sunken as mania began to drive him through insomnia and anorexia. Conventional therapy was completely useless, some psychiatrists declaring that all that could be done was to administer heavy sedation, to snuff the nuclear fire of the boy's mind before it burned him away from the inside. And then a voice of hope was heard. A certain Ishmael Rutherford, claiming to be a professor of advanced maths and sciences, approached Eli's parents, telling them that he had encountered others like young Eli and worked with them on a daily basis, giving them an outlet for their frantic genius, allowing them to work out the blazing pressure within their minds so that they might rest and recover. They practically leapt at the opportunity, for to watch their child continue to degrade while they were worse than powerless before it was maddening. And so, young Eli left his home, his family, behind, taken into the care of none other than the Sons of Ether. But even within the Sons, Eli did not fit. His theories, his math, spiraled around their own, leaving such base things as devices and Ether spinning in the dust as he blazed through an Awakening that left his poor room mangled as he somehow managed to unlock the equation describing not only his own magic but the relation between himself and his Avatar. In effect, he wrote his own Awakening, the pen smoking across the paper and distorting the very shape of Reality around him as it went. These days, Eli's fervor has not so much slowed as found its path, its outlet. No longer does he flail without direction, grasping at whatever he can in a frantic attempt to feed the furnace of his mind. No, now he has a target, a path. He has discovered the paltry equations of this Static Reality that was enforced upon the Sleepers all without their knowledge, and he had begun to grasp the complexities of what lay beyond. He would discover these maths, distill them, render them down to where even a Sleeper could understand, and by understanding, grow... The path has not been without obstacles, of course. While he was safely within the walls and Reality of a chantry, Eli's experiments and theories only rarely caused any noticeable side-effects. When he ventured out into the Normal, however, things got hairy. Sometimes his very thought processes functioned in ways that Static Reality frowned upon, and Paradox dogged his every step, just waiting for a slip that would open the door for trouble. As such, he has learned to be somewhat more circumspect, as well as seeking out teachers to help him develop mental shielding. Indeed, many of his original studies and theories were set to the side as he instead sought out ways to make his work "safe." Ways to bound space, ways to bound his mind, ways to make it appear that everything was Perfectly Normal... from the outside. And within, the fire burns ever brighter. Category:Past PCs